Kin-based institutions and state capacity

Date

2025-06-01

Director

Publisher

Elsevier
Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia
Artículo / Artikulua
Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa

Project identifier

  • AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2021-2023/PID2021-127119NB-I00/ES/ recolecta
Impacto
OpenAlexGoogle Scholar
No disponible en Scopus

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between kin-based institutions and state capacity. The results show that the intensity of kinship networks is a strong predictor of present-day state capacity, both across and within countries. Societies historically characterized by more intensive kinship systems tend to have weaker states today. This finding holds after accounting for various variables that may be correlated with both kinship network intensity and state capacity, including a broad range of geographic, historical, and contemporary factors. The results are also robust when employing an instrumental variable approach that exploits plausibly exogenous variation in historical exposure to the marriage laws of the medieval Catholic Church. Additionally, the analysis reveals that societies with intensive kin-based institutions typically exhibit lower political centralization. Given the essential role of political centralization in establishing state capacity, this finding helps explain the negative association between kinship intensity and state capacity.

Description

Keywords

Kin-based institutions, Political centralization, State capacity

Department

Economía / Ekonomia / Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE

Faculty/School

Degree

Doctorate program

item.page.cita

Ezcurra, R. (2025). Kin-based institutions and state capacity. European Journal of Political Economy, 88, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102676.

item.page.rights

© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.

Licencia

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